Zimbabwe Trip 4 - Part L

Saturday - May 27, 2006

Today was pretty low key. I got up around 10am, read the paper, and then went down to access the internet at the shop outside the Meikles. I wish that I had internet access in my hotel room, but I don't. Of course, if I did, I might not ever leave my room! LOL It's my only connection to the outside world and my friends.

It turns out that I have developed a cold. I don't know where I got it, but the most likely place would be on the WHO van to and from work. It's always cram full of people, and since it's winter, it is cold/flu season in Zimbabwe. I hope I can get it under control before I leave. Having a cold on a 24 hour journey home would suck. I also hope it wouldn't result in the vertigo that I had last year when I came home from Ethiopia with a cold. I definitely don't want vertigo again. So keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer that I make it home without incident and without developing vertigo.

After the internet session was over, I went to the little Africa shop across the way that was finally open. I found a couple of nice trinkets to give Daniel and Colleen. They were pretty inexpensive, and I think they will like them. Daniel should especially enjoy the humor of what I've bought him. We'll see! I've spent myself down to my last 2.5-3 Million Zim, so I will need to conserve money a bit. It won't be hard, as I don't eat out much, but that is probably good for one meal. I am counting down the days until I can go home!

Eric called to invite me to play frisbee with some friends of his, but I begged off. I took a nap instead. Casey called later to see if I wanted to go to dinner at Kim's house. Of course, I wouldn't turn down a dinner invitation, so I accepted. Casey was a little late, but she brought her dog, Tuku who is a sweetheart. I did find out that Yinka will be leaving Sasha, her gorgeous and incredibly sweet mastiff, behind when she leaves in August. Apparently she will give her to a farmer she knows. I feel bad for Sasha, because I love that dog! She reminds me so much of Emma and Jackson. But Yinka doesn't know where she will be going or living so she doesn't want to have to deal with Sasha too. I can understand that, but it's a disservice to that sweet dog she's had since puppyhood.

Casey's dog is friends with Kim's rottweiler mix, so they ran around and had fun while we ate. It was a small affair. Kim's boyfriend Taps wanted to cook dinner rather than go out. He prepared bruchetta which was delicious to start. I fixed myself a diet coke and absolut citron and joined the other Canadian girl and Bonn, her gay friend. It's bizarre to meet a white gay Zimbabwean, although I'd met Bonn in November when I came to Amy's baby shower at Kim's house. At the time, he and Eden (a gay biracial Zimbabwean/South African) were dating. I figured that finding somewhat out gay people in Zimbabwe was rare enough that if you found another one, you almost had to date. LOL But Eden and Bonn broke up in March around the same time that Yinka and Everard split. Anyway, Bonn's a cute guy, pretty funny, and has a fantastic accent that's somewhat rural British. I can't imagine what it would be like to be stuck in Zimbabwe as an out gay man. I would feel so trapped.

We went in for dinner and had a fabulous meal. Taps really went all out. We started with a lovely butternut squash soup which was delicious. We had red wine, and then out came the salad with basalmic dressing, meat roast with gravy, roasted new potatoes, bread, and a vegetable dish of string beans and carrots. The dessert was a cake with icecream that was really good, but I never caught the flavor. We finished off with conversation and coffee.

Our conversation got pretty raunchy at times. As my friends can attest, this seems to happen around me quite a bit, and I'm not exactly an innocent party in continuing the banter. We discussed strip clubs, strippers, sex pigs, and at one point, it delved into bestiality. The bestiality was not my fault, but the fault of the girl from Canada who works for CIDA, which is the Canadian equivalent of USAID. This girl, whose name escapes me, is an intersting character. I first met her in November, and she's got some chips on her shoulder. It's bizarre. Each time I interact with her, I invariably say something that provokes the remark, "Let's not go there." with an implied threat that I'll have my ass kicked by her if I press the issue. Last night it was how Canada is currently a much more free society that upholds supposedly American values than the US does. I said the word "supposedly" on purpose because I know the USA doesn't hold a monopoly on valuing freedom and liberty and the like. But that is what we're supposed to strive for and stand for. However, saying "American values" pissed her off, and she gave me the "Let's not go there" remark. I reminded her that I had said "allegedly" American values, but she still seemed pissed. My opinion is that she needs to calm the fuck down. She gets riled way too easily for someone who's been assigned to a foreign country as a representative of her own nation. Kim is the consular officer for Canada in Zimbabwe, and she wasn't all offended. We had a really nice discussion of the different ways of Canada and the US, and she wasn't offended at all by my statement because she knew what I meant.

Anyway, we had a nice time chatting and sharing stories from our college days. I probably shared way too much, but that's in my character. My life is an open book, so I openly talk about things. They are in my past and helped make me who I am today. I see nothing wrong with that. The evening ended around 11pm, and Casey took me back to the hotel. I watched this movie starring Robert Redford that was good but had an ending that SUCKED. It was called "The Clearing". I don't remember it in theatres, but having watched it, I bet it went straight to video. I then read a bit and went to sleep.